I just don't see any other way it could be. The WWE and WCW titles were unified when Chris Jericho beat The Rock and Steve Austin. The World title was a completely new title without any previous lineage.

It's on the DVD, I actually found the part where they mention it on the DVD (downloaded it) and even though WWE want's to retcon things quite often, I'm not letting them get away with this one. Sure, the WWE Championship gets top billing, but to be champion of the world is a better feat than being champion of a company and no matter how anyone tries to spin it there can be no solid argument against it.